


Rivals of the Heart

by seoxuxi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Baseball, Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Lovers, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Sort of? - Freeform, more like frenemies to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 05:16:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17461325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seoxuxi/pseuds/seoxuxi
Summary: “I can see you getting curious Mark, interested?” Yuta smirked at him, that teasing lilt edging into his voice.Mark watched as the ball Yukhei was tossing around slipped from his grip a little too early, missing his glove and nearly hitting one of his team members in the head, immediately making him cringe and apologize profusely as they glared at him.“Maybe just a little…”





	Rivals of the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Me again...starting yet another fic despite the current state of my drafts.
> 
> I'm not sure how long or how many chapters this will have yet, but I'll be updating as frequently as possible among university things so please bear with me.

   Mark closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He could feel his heart thrumming in his chest. He could feel the tight material of his undershirt hugging his body whenever he shifted on the bench. But most of all, he could hear all the shouting, the cheers, the calls. He let out the breath he had been holding and opened his eyes.

   Around him, his teammates were busying themselves making their final preparations. Doyoung was sat on the floor in one corner of the locker room, legs extended out in front of him as he stretched while Sicheng fiddled with his glove on the bench next to him. The three youngest members of the team; Renjun, Donghyuck, and Jeno were chatting in the corner, Donghyuck’s loud laughter audible throughout the rest of the room as the other two grinned at the story he was recounting. Yuta was on the bench across from Mark, one knee tucked up as he tied the laces on his cleats while Jaehyun cleaned his bat, earphones playing loud enough to block out the outside noise.

   A large hand dropping onto his shoulder made Mark jump slightly, snapping him out of his own thoughts, “You ready for this?”

   He looked up and saw his brother Johnny looking at him, features completely calm and collected aside from the small curl of his lips.

   “Of course I am. We’ve waited a long time to get here after all.”

   Johnny nodded in agreement and Mark frowned slightly, “How are you so calm right now?” he asked, making Johnny let out a laugh.

   “I’m the captain, that’s my job. There’s no point in me getting nervous, it just makes everyone else nervous too.” He looked around at the rest of the team. He was right, Mark knew that. Most of the team was quiet, but they were more focused rather than nervous.

   “Besides,” Johnny continued, “I know you’ll pitch us some good balls today, we’re in good hands.”

   “Don’t say that!” Mark whined, “that’ll just make me more nervous, knowing everyone is relying on me to pitch well.”

   Johnny grinned at him, “Sorry. I know everything will be fine though, trust your older brother for once.”

   Mark rolled his eyes and pushed Johnny lightly, making him stumble sideways a little and laugh.

   “Attention!”

   The team’s attention, including Mark and Johnny’s, snapped to the front of the room where their coach stood.

   “This is it. The championships. You’ve all worked hard to get here, so let’s keep up that good streak and win this game too.” The team clapped and he motioned to Johnny. “A few words from our captain maybe?”

   Johnny came to stand at the front, automatically slipping in to his ‘responsible leader’ mode, as Mark and Yuta liked to call it.

   “You all heard coach, we’ve worked hard for this. Let’s go out there today and give it our best. We can win this one, just like we’ve won all the others. Today’s just another day playing the game.”

   The rest of the team jumped up from their various positions around the locker room, letting out a series of cheers and shouts of excitement.

   The whole team began following their coach and managers to the dugout, and Mark could already feel the adrenaline starting to flow through him as he followed. The shouting from the stands was getting louder with every footstep and a few moments later they emerged into the field, the cheering louder than ever.

   Mark looked around, surveying the field and all the crowds. Until he had started university, he never knew just how big the games could get. They had never been anywhere this big in high school.

   The weather was warm, with clear skies, and he could feel the heat from the full sun radiating down through his uniform. It was still better than playing in the rain though. Everything was harder in the rain when it came to baseball.

   Loud shouting from the opposing team’s dugout caught his attention, and he glanced over at them. One particularly tall boy was shouting excitedly about something, long arms waving about the place while the rest of his teammates tried to shut him up, one of them even going as far as reaching up to slap him lightly up the back of the head.

   Mark focused his attention back on their coach, who had begun discussing their lineup and strategies for the game. Their lineup was the same as it had been for the entire year, but their coach still insisted on recounting it just to make extra sure everyone was aware of their roles.

   He was just finishing putting on and tightening his batting gloves when he heard the umpire call.

   “Teams line up!”

   Both teams made their way over to where the umpire was standing and lined up facing each other, Mark tucked in between Johnny and Doyoung.

   He looked at the opposing team member opposite him, surprised to find the tall, loud boy from earlier standing right in front of him. Mark hadn’t expected him to be their pitcher, of all things. He definitely had more of a fielder feeling about him.

   The taller boy grinned at him as he stepped forward, hand extended to shake Mark’s, “I’ve heard a lot about you, You’re Mark Lee, right?” he asked.

   Mark leaned forward to shake his hand in return, giving him a small smile.

   “Yep, that’s me, the one and only”

   That made the boy laugh loudly. He laughed with his entire body, head thrown back and hand slipping from Mark’s.

   “Sorry,” he apologized after having recovered slightly, “I’m Lucas, but you can call me Yukhei.” He tacked on another grin and a wink at the end, and Mark’s eyes widened.

   Was he _flirting?_ They had barely met each other a minute ago. He wasn’t about to get flustered just because a member of the opposite team, a _rival,_ winked at him.

   Both teams started to dissipate, going back to their respective dugouts before the game started.

   “Let’s have a good game then Mark. I wanna see if you’re as good as the other teams say.”

   Yukhei clapped him on the back a little forcefully and gave him one last smile before following the rest of his team.

   Mark really couldn’t keep up with the boy, his words bouncing around his head.

   Yuta was looking at him curiously when he made it back to the benches, making Mark raise an eyebrow at him, “what?”

   Yuta shook his head, “Nothing, just watching you and Lucas. He seems friendly.”

   “You know Lucas?”

   “Not personally. I’ve heard he’s an amazing player though. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of balls he pitches us today.”

   Mark frowned, “If he’s that amazing, how come we didn’t see him last year?”

   “Apparently he was competing in China for the national youth team. I thought you definitely would have heard of him or seen him in the magazines.”

   “The national youth team?! Are you serious? That’s amazing…” Mark looked over to the other team’s dugout again, eyes searching for the boy. He was leant against one of the the railings, rolling a baseball around his right hand, occasionally tossing it into the glove on his left hand as he chatted animatedly with another taller boy whose blond hair flopped over his forehead underneath his cap.

   “I can see you getting curious Mark, interested?” Yuta smirked at him, that teasing lilt edging into his voice.

   Mark watched as the ball Yukhei was tossing around slipped from his grip a little too early, missing his glove and nearly hitting one of his team members in the head, immediately making him cringe and apologize profusely as they glared at him.

   “Maybe just a little…”

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far, that means it wasn't terrible!
> 
> Come find me at Twitter on my [Main](https://twitter.com/seoxushi) or my [AU/NSFW](https://twitter.com/taeilsyoungho)
> 
> Please keep an eye out for the next chapter! It should be here within the next week~


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